1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates principally to the field of watercraft control systems and, more particularly, to the fields of throttle and transmission controls and joystick maneuvering systems for watercraft.
2. Related Art
The age-old boat throttle lever arm has survived the test of time as an indispensible controller choice for a vast array of boat designs. The throttle arm pivots forward and backward to control the magnitude of forward or rearward velocity of the boat based on how far it pivots from the vertical and, when vertical, the engine is kept in neutral and usually has to be released from neutral by pressing a mechanical or electrical release button, trigger or the like.
Since the advent of directed watercraft thrust systems and all of their versatile joystick control interfaces more than fifty years ago, helmsman have also long been able to easily maneuver their boats in all sorts of directions—forward, backward, sideways, and spin-on-a-dime-ways—all with the touch of a joystick. Many watercraft systems use such approaches, which are often commonly referred to as pod drives, azimuth thrusters, tunnel thrusters, dynamic propulsion, and Can-based propulsion. Some thrust systems include fixed-pitch propeller hydraulic and mechanical thrusters with direct engine drive, electric drive or hydraulic drive, and underwater mountable thrusters for a wide variety of marine applications. Such thrust systems commonly come with integrated or modular electronic control systems, with or without prime mover controls, and have become standardized in many respects.
Directed thrust systems are sometimes used as the primary propulsion system, but many different types of watercraft use a traditional propulsion system for typical and high-speed operation, together with an auxiliary directed thrust system for low-speed or dynamic maneuvering, such as for docking or the like.
A vast number of thrust systems and controller options are available from numerous commercial operations such as Volvo, Zeus, Mercury, ZF Marine, Mastercraft, ThrustMasters and EControls (Applicant), even for straight drives. The problems and obstacles of the prior art systems are evident to those of skill in the art and will be further evident from the following descriptions.